Fangs and Ashes
by denticity
Summary: Legend or not, his boss or not, no matter how often they were right, Yagari had never held anyone who was in charge in a very high regard. Cross Kaien or not, he'll probably never change that.


Written for the 1sentence community on LiveJournal a long time ago; bit of a challenge but a lot of fun.

Warnings for silly punctuation, run-on sentences and mild language.

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Fangs and Ashes

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**#01 - Ring**

Cross always hated it when people turned up unannounced - so when Yagari Touga, of all people, appeared one day and _started shooting my students, for heaven's sake!_ Cross had sulked, because he at least could have called.

**#02 – Hero**

Neither of them has ever liked to be called a hero, for whatever reason, because it just sounds strange – to them, thanks to their respective educations, Hero is a female character in a Shakespeare play whose death is faked (hardly a respectable title for a vampire hunter, now, is it?).

**#03 – Memory**

The memory is supposed to be an information processing system, apparently, but Yagari's seemed to have gotten its information terribly wrong – he remembered Cross being theatrical and annoying, rightly so; but surely he'd never been just downright _sexy_.

**#04 - Box**

_No wonder they say he's thinking outside the box_, Yagari thought to himself during one particularly interesting staff meeting; _he has no idea what the box __is_.

**#05 - Run**

Not in any way, shape or form did Cross remember signing up for this - he had enough to do, what with running his school and all, thank you very much - he just did not have the time or patience to deal with vampire hunters threatening the lives of his adopted children.

**#06 - Hurricane**

It would be something of an understatement to say that Yagari's arrival at the school created a bit of a stir - and not just with the students, with Cross too (never before had someone gotten so infuriatingly under his skin).

**#07 - Wings**

It was rather often that Yagari found himself seriously wondering if Cross had some gift bestowed upon him by God (if there was one), because the man had an _unbelievable_ ability for putting up with the vampires and all their bitching - let alone _liking_ the things.

**#08 - Cold**

Yagari arrived at the Academy during a particularly bitter winter, but from the first time he turned up in Cross' office with that grin of his and the cynical, sarcastic humour that went with it, it somehow didn't seem so cold any more.

**#09 - Red**

Apparently the Level Es were gaining fighting ability, because it was more and more often that Yagari came back injured; Cross would get worried about it, and Yagari would tell him "Calm down, Cross, I won't get blood on the carpet."

**#10 - Drink**

Right from the get-go, Cross took it upon himself to openly disapprove of Yagari's awful smoking habit ("If you die a slow, painful death from lung cancer, you'll get no sympathy from me!"), but he supposed he should be glad that Yagari had not (so far, at least) turned up to anything drunk.

**#11 - Midnight**

"Don't you think, Cross," Yagari had pointed out, after Cross' comment about lung cancer, "that I'd be much more likely to die a less slow, more painful death out in some godforsaken place in the middle of the night, while a Level E tries to rip my throat out?"

**#12 - Temptation**

Upon hearing this, Cross had been rather shocked that Yagari thought so matter-of-factly about it; and then he'd been overcome by a peculiar urge to shout "Don't you _dare_ let anything like that happen to you!"

**#13 - View**

True, they're vampire hunters, people who anyone sensible would never try to understand; but everyone has to wonder how, after just a few weeks of working together, they have formed a flawless team (quite amazing, really, when the only thing they seem to have in common is dodgy eyesight).

**#14 - Music**

It's more powerful in the dark, late at night when they both should be sleeping but have too much work to do, sitting in the office with the light of just the desk lamp; that's when Cross is sure it must be noticeable that his body is positively _singing_ with awareness.

**#15 - Silk**

It's not a romance, as such, it's not flowers and candles and silk sheets; it's more like a partnership, an 'us against the world' - or it would be if the world had any idea.

**#16 - Cover**

"One of the things that really annoys me about you, Cross," Yagari says, pulling hard on the covers for the third time that night, "is that you're a bloody blanket thief."

**#17 - Promise**

It was in the earlier days, back when neither knew exactly what was going on, that Cross was vaguely reminded of a line in a play he saw once: "God help me, I lusted, and there _is_ a promise in such sweat."

**#18 – Dream**

Yagari had heard a theory once that dreams were a mechanism for processing useless information – but surely Cross wasn't _entirely_ useless, so why the hell was Yagari dreaming about him so much?

**#19 - Candle**

At the onset, it was unwanted and unwelcome, like fire drills when it was raining; but Yagari couldn't deny the fact that his initial reluctance to get closer to Cross had broken down completely - had gradually and surreptitiously flickered and gone out.

**#20 - Talent**

It must have taken a fair bit of practice, Cross thinks, or else a highly unfair natural ability, to have gotten the skill for nonchalant sexual innuendo like Yagari has - with him, it's nothing less than an _art form_.

**#21 - Silence**

This time they don't talk, because there's really nothing worth talking about; they just lie there in the dark, and it's the first time in too long that either of them has heard a truly content silence.

**#22 - Journey**

They're both on a one-way road to hell - that fate was sealed a long time ago - so screw it; let's have some fun getting there.

**#23 - Fire**

To buy into the cliché, the chemistry really is like a fire - if they can stay far enough away from each other it's not so bad; but get too close and it's going to _burn_.

**#24 - Strength**

It's never been about necessity, or dependence - they both know that they're strong enough to survive on their own; it's just nice to know that they don't have to.

**#25 - Mask**

It took Cross a while to realise that Yagari shouldn't be persuaded into revealing more of what he feels - he doesn't _hide _his emotion; he just controls it.

**#26 - Ice**

There was a heck of a storm that night - thunder crashed, hailstones hammered the windowpanes; but Cross was far from noticing - all he could hear was the pounding of his own heartbeat and his breathing in a ragged, uneven rhythm with Yagari's, and then he couldn't breathe at all and couldn't think and didn't care if the voice that cried out was his --

**#27 - Fall**

The next morning, it was a major drop in Cross' common sense that made him say to Yagari "Fancy seeing you here" - how utterly ridiculous - but Yagari just looked amused and said "Well, yeah - this is _your_ bed."

**#28 - Forgotten**

At first, Cross had to wonder if this was really a good idea (because Yagari works for him, and he's probably not supposed to Go There), but then his previously neglected libido convinced him that this was the best idea he's ever had, and wouldn't let him forget it.

**#29 - Dance**

Cross lives and moves and makes love with a quiet grace, so that to anyone who looks close enough, it's almost like he's dancing; Yagari doesn't need anything to as such define him, he just _is_, and it's the same with their relationship: it's Cross and Yagari, and it just is.

**#30 - Body**

They are both scarred, and it's not just their bodies, it's their minds too - a bit damaged, they are - but they can be damaged together, and it's not so bad.

**#31 - Sacred**

Vampire hunting is a world of pain and violence and blood (it still is for Cross, he can't switch off his dreams) and they were both beginning to believe that nothing was sacred any more, sickened to think what perversion of nature might be next; and then they found that each other could be their sanctuary and their safehouse, someone who would be the last fragment of hope that was left, and remind them that it wouldn't always be this bad.

**#32 - Farewells**

It takes Cross quite a while to realise that the reason he's not getting much work done is the vampire hunter sitting across from him - that man is _distracting_, and Cross has to kick him out; Yagari just grins as if distracting Cross was his plan all along (in fact, it probably was), salutes and walks out.

**#33 - World**

Every time Yagari kisses him, the entire world recedes; it all falls away until there's only Yagari and the warmth of his mouth and the heat of his skin, his fingers tangling in Cross' hair; and despite himself Cross always notices that Yagari has far too many scars.

**#34 - Formal**

It's school assemblies that Yagari doesn't like about teaching; or at least it was until one time when Cross, done with addressing the school, came and sat beside him; and in a tone completely different to the formal one he'd been using just a second ago murmured into Yagari's ear things that would make the entire assembly no doubt faint if they could hear, and hell, the assembly took far too long to be over after that.

**#35 - Fever**

Despite his instinct to care, when Yagari got the flu Cross couldn't help but say "I told you so," because he distinctly remembered warning Yagari more than once that "Tobacco destroys vitamin C!"

**#36 - Laugh**

"Yagari Touga," Cross repeated, wondering if the incredulity was too obvious, "is teaching _Ethics_?" (and then forget maturity, he thought, and laughed until he couldn't breathe).

**#37 - Lies**

"It's pure Freudian theory," Cross said, smugly triumphant (though the effect didn't quite work with his shirt open and his hair messed up), "you were only insulting me and acting like you couldn't stand me because you have a _thing_ for me."

**#38 - Forever**

They've never promised to stick around forever, because forever to them is impossible - they are human, mortal and fleeting; and besides, wouldn't they be sick of each other by then?

**#39 – Overwhelmed**

"The problem with you, Yagari," Cross complained one day, "is that you make me feel _old_ and _short_."

**#40 - Whisper**

It was weird, the Ethics students thought, so weird that they couldn't even think of a decent rumour to explain it - why, lately, had Yagari-sensei been in such an uncharacteristically good mood?

**#41 - Wait**

Sometime during the haze of want that had been the first time that Cross had slammed him against the wall and kissed him, Yagari had briefly considered mentioning (but realised it would just annoy Cross) how damned long he had been _waiting_ for this.

**#42 - Talk**

It was a perfectly innocuous subject, some work matter or another that Cross was referring to when he said "Yagari, I have to talk to you," but trust Yagari to ruin it - to give Cross the grin, raise an eyebrow and say "What, you're breaking up with me?"

**#43 - Search**

Cross always seemed to be looking for something and it was probably because he could never remember where he put things, but one time Yagari had asked exactly what it was that had gotten lost now; Cross had looked up, sighed and said "My sanity," and it was rather amazing that he hadn't given up yet.

**#44 - Hope**

Yagari has no idea what it is with that desk - it must be reasonably significant to Cross, if he's so eternally hopeful that no one will damage it any more; and to be fair, he does look official and important sitting behind it - and Yagari can't help but wonder what he'd look like bent over it.

**#45 - Eclipse**

Yagari had never held anyone who was in charge in a very high regard, because they always bitched to _him_ when anything went wrong; but then Cross came along and totally eclipsed Yagari's expectation of him - he only bitched when the situation actually called for it - yet he always refused to admit that he was _Yagari's_ bitch, and in Yagari's book that just made him a killjoy.

**#46 - Gravity**

It was after the third time, Cross vaguely recalls - he woke up to the sunlight coming through the curtains, the steady rhythm of Yagari's breathing, and the smell of sex; realised that dear heaven he was _sleeping with __Yagari Touga_, and almost fell out of the bed.

**#47 - Highway**

After having been travelling for so long, Yagari has a definite appreciation for being in the same place for longer than a couple of weeks; the only downside to this is that Cross always manages to find him.

**#48 – Unknown**

Sometimes, despite the fact that he is amusing and smart and sexy, Cross Kaien is just downright _annoying_ - and sometimes Yagari doesn't know why he gives him the time of day, the good-for-nothing little whack job.

**#49 - Lock**

Kaname knocks on the office door, and when there's no answer, tries the handle, but it's locked - that's odd, it's never locked - and he's about to leave when the door opens and Yagari (-sensei) walks out, straightening his jacket; and when Kaname goes into the office the Chairman's expression is a mix of embarrassment, amusement and something that is very reminiscent of the Cheshire cat.

**#50 - Breathe**

At the beginning of all this, Yagari had wondered just how he was going to be able to work with Cross breathing down his neck; but now he's realised that he can work regardless, and that having Cross breathing down his neck (his neck, and everywhere else) is something he can probably live with.

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Notes

#2 - the Shakespeare play mentioned is _Much Ado About Nothing_.

#17 - the quote is from_ The Crucible_, by Arthur Miller; John Proctor says it in Act III.

The title: it's pretty much their names. Touga means 'ten fangs'; the first kanji in Kaien means 'ashes'. It's just badass, okay. =)


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